Learning about Lead Belly and his tragic history helped but his songs in perspective for me. After listening to ‘Midnight Special’ I looked up its meaning. Apparently it was a passenger train that passed Sugar Land Prison in Texas and shined light onto it. Lead Belly was imprisoned at Imperial Farm in Sugar Land, Texas after murdering Will Stafford. He had a very personal connection to the song, which was a traditional folk song.
Similarly, ‘Rock Island Line’ is also about a railroad and was first recorded at the Tucker, Arkansas prison farm. ‘Take This Hammer’ was also a prison and railroad work song specifically about fleeing from forced labor through the prison system (an insidious issue we are still battling today). The song is surprisingly sad. The lines:
"If he asks you was I laughin'
Tell him I was crying’
.
.
I don't want cornbread and molasses
But I got my pride”
Indicate how desperately he wanted to be out of that system that dehumanized him. I watched the segment from the Gordon Parks film and was struck by the line, “Nothing can sing like a darkie when he puts his mind to it” from the Governor while Lead Belly is essentially begging to be pardoned. When he throws the cigar at Lead Belly’s feet like you would throw a scrap of meat to a dog, I was angered. It angers me to think that a human being could treat another human being like this and that it happened quite frequently to Black Americans in those times.
The “Newsreel” depiction of Lead Belly makes him act the role of childish, obedient performer while the governor is portrayed as a mature, understanding figure. This video was quite frankly, made for white audiences in a way that would make them feel the least guilty for being complacent to the horrid treatment of people like Lead Belly in the penitentiaries.
Lead Belly was a man with his own demons and flaws who found solace and hope through music. His life truly reflects his singing and it's very special and rare that we get to hear recorded folk music come from such a genuine place.
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